Member of 1994 USA World Cup team knows how much soccer can grow if this year's team keeps up its success
The United States men's national team has an opportunity to make history on Monday night by reaching the World Cup quarterfinals in a game played on its home soil.
With a win on Monday over Belgium, Team USA will be one of the "elite eight" remaining in the World Cup, making it the furthest they've gone since 2002.
Soccer's popularity grew immensely when the 1994 USA team made it to the knockout stage on home soil, and John Harkes, one of the members of that team, which is the focal point of FOX ONE's "Summer of '94" docuseries, believes this year is a "full-circle moment."
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"I was with my son and his wife and our grandson and my wife at the (Round of 32) game, and the national anthem always hits me hard, and the emotions come. You look back on the years that we played and what we contributed to the game back in 1990 and '94. It was massive being here. Thirty-two years on now, it's really important for us to tell the stories because these are new audiences, and they need to know the stories. They need to know the history of the game, and that's part of the education that goes on in our country," Harkes told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
"We're always trying to tell those stories the right way and have those platforms. The best way to do that is to win. And now we have guys that are competing and playing all over the world with great talent, great skill, and we're seeing them now. But the emotions that come out in the stadium at these games are unreal for me to really control. But I love it. I'm just so excited and happy that this is happening."
Harkes admitted to feeling the added "pressure" of trying to grow the game in his home country, all while competing for soccer's most coveted trophy. But it was something they had to "accept." They did that with the help of defeating Colombia to get into the knockout stage, and this year's team is on the path to doing the same after last week's thrilling 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"When you do something like that, that wakes up a nation," Harkes added.
Harkes is now a technical director at McLean Youth Soccer in Virginia and an assistant coach for the USA U15 team, and as the sport grows, he wants respectful coaches to grow, as well.
"We are building platforms for these kids to not just have fun and compete but to have life skills. We need to be mentors. It is a mentorship that you take on, and when you take on that responsibility, you are there for the player, you are there for the kids, and you're also there for the parents too," Harkes, a part of the "Yes, Coach!" team, said. "We're in a really good situation right now across the game in this country where coaches need to step in with full responsibility, clear communication, and be good role models. If you can become that good role model and help mentor other coaches to be good coaches where they are putting the player first, these are the life skills that they need, and they need to be able to understand the game and respect the game.
"We see too many coaches that want a win-at-all-cost mentality. I see them yelling from the sideline at kids, and kids are second-guessing everything. They're not even having fun. It's not work. It's supposed to be a sport. It's supposed to be for fun, for them to be together as a team, to have camaraderie, to understand what sacrifice means for the player next to you, your friend, and that you grow in these relationships. So the more that we can mentor coaches to understand that part and their roles and what they do with these children is the most important part of the game, and there's no better platform than to do it right now."
Harkes knows what the 1994 World Cup did to soccer, and he also knows how much more this year's event can do.
"That summer of '94, it was incredible. It was unprecedented what we did in '94, to be honest with you..." Harkes said. "And we've got this opportunity now, we've created so much passion around the men's game. These stories are now preserved from the past. People know who they are. We carry that forward into the game today and what they're doing on the field. It's just a perfect match. It really is. So a lot of success is coming out of that. And I'm really excited about what we've done in the past and what we're doing now. So let's keep supporting our U.S. team and push them on as far as they can go."
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